Deo. 34, 1891,3 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



451 



whole camp. How natural it is to hurry to a creek. One 

 would think that the trout were just ready to take wing. 

 I sometimes wonder if anglers had to be in sxich a hurry 

 in good old Izaak's time, To my certain knowledge they 

 have hurried the same way for thirty years and still the 

 trout and bass have taken wing only in the figurative 

 sense. 



Of course my whip carried three iJies : Royal-coachman 

 for tail fly, and brown-haokie and professor for droppers. 

 In a country wbere trout are as plentiful and bold as in 

 this, three flies are none too many. 



Although not of a particularly nervous disposition. I 

 must admit that iu my efforts to get my rod togetber I 

 quivered with excitement until my teetb chattered. It 

 was the finest trout stream [ had ever seen Avithout an 

 angler's foot-path along its banks; and I was to have the 

 pleasure of introducing the whole royal household of 

 freckled beauties to such bright flies as had never been 

 dreamed of in their philosophy. 



There is more joy in anticipation than in reabzalion, 

 even though one realizes the full measure of anticipation; 

 and uncertainty as to results only adds tone to an ticipa- 

 tion. How could I know whether there was a trout in 

 the stream? And yet in a trout country such water must 

 bear fruit. All these things ran through my mind while 

 getting ready for my first cast. 



Taking my stand on a rock that commanded a pool just 

 below a low fall, I hesitatingly tendered the lure. It'was 

 a bungling cast: my dry leader curled and fell in a bunch, 

 but who would have thought that under that placid sur- 

 face there vvere bo many watchful eyesV A flash, a strike, 

 and a trout, in about the time it takes to tell it. 1 was not 

 entitled to a trout for that cast, but got one all the same, 

 Recognizing the fact that the trout was entitled to credit 

 for being able to pick a fly out of such a tangled mess, 

 I broke his neck and slipped him into the basket, without 

 wasting time to admire him. Hastily straightening my 

 leader, I put the flies at the same spot, for the trout had 

 seen something that excited their bumps of alimentive- 

 ness, and the whole pool was ajsth; Smack, smack, here 

 and there, as they rushed at phantom flies, admonished 

 me that now was tJie accepted time. Whir r-r-r, went 

 my reel, but before I could land the fish the joints of my 

 leader seemed to get rheumatic. Instead of beautiful 

 curves and lofty tumbling there was twitching and jerk- 

 ing like a balky team. There was not much strain on my 

 rod, but the leader seemed to be in a fit. I let them fight 

 it out, and finally landed three beauties. That's enough 

 for one cast, particularly when one uses but three flies. 



So it went, sometimes one. oftener two, and now an<i 

 then three at a cast— Dolly Vardensand rainbows from 8 

 to 18in. in length. That was the kind of a l;rout stream 

 I had found, S. H, CtREENE. 



PoHTLANU, Qregpii. 



A BACK CAST. 



12f an article with the caption "Black Bass 'Waters of 

 the State of New York," written in 183? for the 

 -'•'Game Laws of the State of New York," issued by the 

 J^astern New York Fish and G-ame Protective Association, 

 I made a claim that none of the interior waters of the 

 8tate originally contained black bass, "except possibly 

 the group of lakes in the western-central part be an ex- 

 ception," and Like George, which got its supply of this 

 fish from Lake Champlain through the connecting stream 

 in the long ago. 



Soon after the article appeared in print exception was 

 taken to the claim that Lake George was the original 

 habitat of the black bass, and a counter-claim was made 

 that the lake was stocked with 40 black bass brought 

 from Lake Champlain between 1840 and 1850, This last 

 statement I had every reason to believe was incorrect, 

 for there are men living who caught black baes in Lake 

 George prior to 1840, but I had no documentary evidence 

 to oft'er that the bass were native to the lake. It is 

 recorded in Brown's ''American Angler's Guide" that Mr. 

 John D. Keese caught a black bass of olbs. 9oz. in 

 Lake George during the summer of 1844, and that at that 

 time this fish was distributed throughout the lake and 

 aft'orded good fishing. This fact would dispose of the 

 claim of their introduction between 1840 and 1850. 



After a diligent search, extending over several years, I 

 have found some additive testimony regarding the 

 presence of black bass in Lake G eorge, in a copy of the 

 Warrm County Messenger, of Sept, .3, 1830, as follows: 



"Notice to all whom it mav concern. An appHcaUim. will be 

 made on the first day (or as soon thereafter as counsel can be 

 heard) of tlie next term of the court of Common Pleas for the 

 county of Warrea, to be held at this Court House in Caldwell, on 

 the twenty-first day of September next, for certain orders orrules 

 for the purpose, and in the words frdlowing. to wit: 

 To the HoiioraUe Horatio BueU, Thnmas Patterson and Horain 

 Barlx-r, Judges of the County Courts in and for the County of 

 Warren, of wMch the Coninum Plea« is one: 



The undersigned, freeholders and inhabitants residing in the 

 towns of Queenshury, Caldwell. Bolton. Hague and Chester, in 

 said county, pray that in order to ren-ulate the fishing in the 

 Iloricou, or Lake George, and Schroon Lake in said county, that 

 an order or rule, to the tenor and effect following, mav be granted 

 and entered in the minutes of the Court at the next term thereof, 

 in parsuance of the Statute in such case made and provided, that 

 IB to say-; 



'On reading and filina- the petitions of certain freeholders of the 

 towns of Queenshury, Caldwell, Bolton, Ha.gue and Chester, pray- 

 ing the Court to regulate the tishing in the Horicou , or Lake 

 Georae. and the ischroon Lake, in the countv of Warren, and on 

 proof made nf due notice having been given of sach intended ap- 

 plication to r»=s:nlaie said fisihing.' 



'"Jliinfor 6 ordered. That no person shall spear or hook up, with 

 hooKS fastened to sticks or poles, any of the fish commonly called 

 kite trout, or any of the fish commonly called ?ja^s, in anv of the 

 waters of either of the aforesaid lakes, lying within the county of 

 Warren. No person shall catch or take in any way. or by means 

 or manner, any lake trout in the waters aforesaid, betweea the 

 drat day of October and the first day of January, nor any bass 

 from the fifteenth day of April to the fifteenth day of June, in 

 each and every year, from and after the first day of November 

 nexr, for the tnrm of three years. 



"And he itfuHMr ordered. That whoever shall violate either or 

 any of the pro\'isions of the foregoing rule or order, shall, for 

 every offence forfeit twenty-five dollars. 



"Any person may commence a suit in his owu name for the re- 

 covery of any penalty, for a violation of axiy of the provisions of 

 the toregoing order, but when the recovery shall be had, it shall 

 be the duty of the Court before whom such recovery was had, to 

 give notice thereof to one of the sup'rintendputs" of the poor 

 house, to one of whom, when any such penalty shall be collected 

 the sa me shall be paid. 



Any person havine in his or her possession, In any town in said 

 county, any fresh lake trout, between the first day of October and 

 the first day of January, or any 6a*8 between the first day of April 

 and the niteeuth day of June, shall be deemed guilty of having 

 violated the provisions of this order. 



Peteii U. Thbkhhoose, Thos Vaughn-, 

 Lrewis L. PixLEY. Henht Pike. 



, DiLwiN Gardnjjb., James Paxileteb." 



. ij^^y w3, 1S3U, 



This -proposed order or rule is interesting for Bewmai - 



reasons. It establishes the fact that black bass were not 

 introduced into Lake George after 1840. On the contrary, 

 so early as 1830 it was deemed necessary to take measures 

 to prevent their decrease through methods that were un- 

 sportsmanlike, and this would indicate that the bass were 

 not new to this lake, as certainly the trout were not, and 

 they, too, needed protection. It also indicated that the 

 dastardly practice of hooting bass off their beds at the 

 spawning season was practiced at that time as it has been 

 through all the years since, until comparatively few 

 black bass are left in the lake. It indicates that sports- 

 men — for every man who signed that notice was a sports- 

 man, and his deeds as such are talked about to this day — 

 realized over sixty years ago that in order to enforce a 

 fish law a possession clause must be added; and it further 

 indicates that fish laws were as carelessly drawn in 1830 

 as in 1890, for the bass season is made to open April 15, 

 while it was illegal to have bass in possession from April 

 1 to April 15. 



It is noteworthy that the ride or order I have quoted is 

 distinguished for being the first movement made in this 

 State to protect and make a close season for black bass 

 by legal methods; and it was made possible by a law en- 

 acted within three years previous, which conferred power 

 upon the courts of Common Pleas, upon an appHcation of 

 six freeholders, to regulate fishing within their jurisdic- 

 tion for a period not to exceed three years. 



In fHct, the only fish mentioned in the general fishing 

 laws that were in operation at the time this order went into 

 effect were saltnon and pike. The laws of 1810 protected 

 salmon from Oct. .30 to Feb. 1, and the laws of 1837 pro- 

 vided that pike should not be speared in. the Hudson. I 

 am inclined to think that this referred to the pike-perch 

 and not the true pike, now generally called pickerel 

 throughout the State. 



In 1815 there was a law passed which regulated the use 

 of nets, but no specific fish are mentioned. There was 

 also a law passed in 1822 which made it illegal to poison 

 fish, but Etimonds's Eevised Statutes, which is supposed 

 to cover all the laws from the organization of the State 

 in 1777 to a much later period than we write of, mentions 

 no other fish laws than those we have referred to as 

 being in force in 1830. There was, however, a colonial 

 law for the protection of salmon in 1771 , and a deer law in 

 1705, being the first law for the protection of game iu New 

 York. In 1830 black bass were beginning to establish 

 themselves in the waters along the Erie Canal, which 

 tboroughfare brought them into and across.the central 

 part of the State from Lake Erie, when it was dug in 

 1825: but the indiscriminate planting of black bass, now 

 so much the fashion, had not then commenced, The 

 phraseology of the petition quoted might lead one to sup- 

 pose that Schroon Lake contained black bass at that time: 

 but this is not so, *'Horicon, or Lake George, and the 

 Schroon Like in the cotmty of Warren" both contained 

 lake trout, but the fortner only contained black bass. 

 Oaly a part of Schroon Lake is in Warren county, and 

 for that matter, or.Iv a part of Lake George. 



Up to about 1845* there were no fish in Schroon Lake 

 except trout and yeilow-peiehs then 40 vike (Esocc: lucms) 

 — these fish mwt not be confused with "pike-perch, v,'all- 

 eyed pike, or Champlain pike, a« they are variously 

 called — were brought from Lake Charapiain and planted 

 in Schroon. My uncle, a man with a local reputation as 

 a skillful and unremitting angler second to none, a con- 

 temporary of all the signers of the foregoing petition, and 

 now over eighty years of age, clearly remembers the 

 introduction of the so called jjickerel into Schroon Lake, 

 and in vigorous language has ever since censured those 

 who introduced the "sharks" into trout waters, for it was 

 this planting which distributed this '"pickerel" through 

 many waters in northeastern New York. It is possible 

 that with lapse of time the 40 '-pickerel" have been con- 

 verted into 40 black bans, and their destination changed 

 from Schroon Lake to Lake George, This is the only 

 way that I can account for the claim that 40 black bass 

 were taken from Lake Champlain to Lake George between 

 1840 and 1850. The black bass were not introduced into 

 Schroon Lake until some years later than 1845— probably 

 about 1860. Tradition has it that the original plant of 

 black bass came from E finer Lakp, in Saratoga county, 

 which was stocked from Saratoga Lake, and that lake in 

 turn was stocked from the Hudson River. 



The Hudson River, by the way, was stocked in sections 

 by three instalments of black bass. First, the lower part 

 of the river through the Erie Canal; second, the middle 

 portion, from Sacondaga River southward from Effner 

 Lake, which empties into the Sacondaga, and the upper 

 part through Schroon River or East Branch of the Hud- 

 son from Salmon Lake. The last-named section has 

 been stocked within the past ten years, resulting in de- 

 stroying some excellent spring trout fishing in the upper 

 reaches of the stream. 



It will be noticed that in the pioneer fish law that I 

 have quoted. Cooper's name of Horicon, although not 

 spelled as Cooper spelled it, is given as the alternative of 

 Lake George, as if to identify the lake. This is the only 

 instance, so far as I can learn, in which the novelist's 

 name for the lake is used in a legal document. The 

 names of the six petitioners recall many angling exploits 

 attributed to them and a fund of stories of their fishing 

 trips. For instance, Mr. Gardner causht the largest brook 

 trout ever caught* in the waters of Warren county, and 



* Since writing this letter I find that Headley wrote from 

 Schroon Lake in 1848 as follows: '"The water is very pure and 

 cold, and salmon trout were once found in it in abundance. 

 Latterly, however, they have become more scarce, so four years 

 since some men living on it'^ banks got a few pickerel and put 

 them in as a basis of a new stock of fish. It was agreed on all 

 hands not to take any out for four years. The time being expired 

 this spring, they commenced spearing them, and the Quantities 

 they hav^e caught almost sumasses belief. Hundreds of pounds 

 have been taken, some" of the fish weighing 13 and 131bs. The 

 rapidity with which they bred is equalled only by the ratio of in- 

 crease in size, for a growth of ilbs. per annum is almost incred- 

 ible. It was doubtless owing to the abundance and richness of 

 the food sad the perfect adapLness of the water to their wants 

 and habits." 



more scarce," and yet for thirty-four years succeeding the date of 

 that statement the lake trout fishing in Schroon Lake was ex- 

 cellent in spite of the presence of the pickerel, Nothing was done 

 to increase the lake trout in Schroon until 1882, when 200,000 eggs 

 were sent there from one of the State hatcheries, and were 

 hatched and the fry planted in the lake. In Aueuat of that year 

 I fished in the lake one morning before breakfast with Monroe 

 Green and caught four trout trolling at the bott om. At that time 

 it could not he said that lake trout were scarce but their food was 

 scarce, so scarce that the trout were obliged to go on the shoals in 

 August and feed on yellow perch. The pickerel had destroyed 

 thefoodsujpply.and it was reaaiy tood that was regui-red more 

 than troat try.— A< N. C. 



he caught it in the Hudson River at the mouth of Clen- 

 don Brook, which for the past eight or nine years has 

 been used as a nursery for young sea salmon, Mr. Three- 

 house is credited with catching the largest lake trout of 

 his day in Lake George. Mr. Pike was particularly fond 

 of catching the fish that bears his name, but which is 

 generally called pickerel, 



"This reminds me." Within the past few years pickerel 

 (Esox reticulatus). the genuine article, have made their 

 appearance in the Upper Hudson, How they came there 

 no one seems to know, but they are increasing rapidly, 

 much more so than the pike lucms. At first but an oc- 

 casional pickerel was taken, and now out of five fish of 

 this family taken, three will be pickerel and two pike, 



I will not close this without telling at least one story 

 of these old-time fishermen. It was an unwritten law in 

 their time that a man who cut a hole in the ice for the 

 purpose of fishing in the winter, was entitled to the use 

 of the hole as long as the ice lasted. Ice might form in 

 the hole almost to its original thickness, and be cut out 

 again and again by another person, but upon the appear- 

 ance of the original ctitter the hole most be given up to 

 his use. 



One day Mr. Pixley started for a day's perch fishing, 

 the ice was very thick and it was something of a task to 

 cut a hole, and besides, it retpiired time. He thought he 

 might find a hole cut that he could use, btit arriving on 

 the ice he found the only hole that was cut occupied by a 

 Quaker friend, Roger Haviland, whereupon occurred this 

 conversation: "Roger, that is my hole you are fishing 

 in." "Maybe, Lewis, maybe; but I have cut it out enough 

 times this winter to own it, unless you cut it very early. 

 AVhen did you cut if:"' "I cut it last winter." The claim 

 was strong enough to get most anything else, but it did 

 not get the hole. A. N. Ghbwy. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, ni., Dec. 19.— A raeetijag for the organiza- 

 tion of a fly-casting club will be held at Von 

 Lengerke & Antoine's sporting goods store, 346 Wabash 

 avenue, Monday evening next, and it is thought tha.t a 

 dozen or so of members will sign the first manifesto. 

 Through the courtesy of Capt. J, H, Barnett and some 

 of his associate officers of the First Regiment, it is thought 

 that the club can be admitted, for occasional winter 

 practice, into thef First Regiment Armory, a magnificent 

 building with an unbroken hall covering a quarter of a 

 block, and a ceiling four stories high. The possibilities 

 of this will at once unfold to the fly- caster who sotue 

 times longs for a place to try his hand to keep in practice 

 during the winter months, 



Mr. Geo. T. Farmer mentions a novel and very killing 

 bait which hfi has tried for trout in the North, "You 

 kill a red squirrel," says he, " and cutoff a little strip of 

 skin about 3in, long and ^in, wide in the middle, tapering 

 to both e.nds, leaving a little of the flesh on the inside of 

 the skin. You bait this through one end. When it gets 

 wet it will all curl up around the hook, and it makes the 

 best caterpillar ever you saw." I don't see why this 

 would not be a good bait for bass also. 



Mild weather has kept the ice out of our lakes so far. 

 Wardens Jeff, Smith and F, L. Buck will make a visit to 

 the lakefe as soon as a hard freeze comes. It is not thought 

 that the residents on the main chain of the Fox Lake 

 system will make much trouble, but the law may not be 

 obeyed so well upon the smaller lakes. 



The John Wilkinson Co. will remove from their pres- 

 ent ciuarters at 859 State street, as soon as suitable store 

 room elsewhere can be obtained, but no definite arrange- 

 ments have yet been concluded. The tackle trade will 

 be emphasized^_ E. HouaH. 



Pollution of Waters.— The following, upon the 

 destruction of fish by culm from the coal mines of 

 Pennsylvania, is taken from the Harrisburg Patriot, of 

 Dec. 7: "Jesse Rittenhouse, one of the comtnissiouers 

 of Columbia county, writes to Thomas Hargest. Esq., 

 attorney for the State Fish Commission, inqttiring if there 

 is no way of preventing coal operators from putting all 

 their culm from their mines in the streams. Mr. Ritten- 

 house says he would like to show Fish Warden Nicholas, 

 of this city, several streams that flow into otheis full of 

 fish where the culm is killing the finest trout he would 

 wish to see. The streams Mr. Rittenhouse refers to he 

 says are as black as ink," This recalls the letter of Mr. 

 J. T. Bare, published in Forest and Stream last spring, 

 upon the same pollution observed in the Susquehanna 

 River at Bainbridge, Pa. It also calls to mind the vast 

 amount of cedar chips and shavings to be seen at the same 

 place. These chips on Oct. 30 were as thick on the York 

 county side of the river as well-formed slush ice, and 

 are continually coming down. These are from the isaper 

 mill at York Haven.— BoN. 



Tickling Trodt,— New York, Dec. 14:.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: I was amused by reading in your last 

 number, when "O. O. S." made fun of the Gerrnan catch- 

 ing trout with his hand. He perhaps had never heard 

 that trout, like some other beings, like to be tickled. In 

 a rocky stream, such as many of the streams in Wales, 

 you will generally find two holes under a stone; you put 

 your left hand over the bole, and then carefully try in 

 the other with your right; if there, is a trout there, the 

 moment you touch him commence tickling him very 

 gently on his sid^, he won't move; you continue it till 

 you reach the gills and then grab him. I have tickled 

 many a one when a boy. I used to think it good fun, but 

 if you should happen to tickle a water rat he would most 

 likely make it unpleasant for you,— R, A. T. 



Early Fishino, — Shad have already appeared upon 

 the North Carolina coast this month, several weeks earlier 

 than ustial. About New Years the stake nets on the 

 marshes, it is expected, will be in operation and furnish 

 shad in moderate quantities. It is reported that already 

 the best roe shad have sold in the Norfolk, Va,, market at 

 a dollar a pair. Bluefish are being taken in large quan- 

 tities on the North Carolina coast at present. — BoN, 



"FOREST AND STREAM." 



On January 7 the "Forest and Stream" 

 will be permanently enlarged to 32 pages. 

 The price will remain the sam.e. 



